


At a Glance (or not)

by quiet__tiger



Category: DCU (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Gen, Training, Trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 04:50:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10846827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Tim has one more assignment before Batman will fully trust him.





	At a Glance (or not)

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Key."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 5th-Aug-2010.

“Dude, what the heck _is_ this?”

Tim looked up from the computer to see that Superboy had been rummaging through his backpack. He knew he shouldn’t even have the backpack with him, but he hadn’t had time to go home before hitching a ride to Young Justice. “It’s an invasion of privacy.”

“Not that, _this_.” Superboy handed him what was very clearly a map of Gotham City.

“A map.” Superboy made a face, and Tim sighed. “It’s a color-coded map of Gotham that Batman and Nightwing made for me.”

“It looks like some sort of abstract painting or something.”

“Not when you know what everything is. Green circles indicate a safe zone. Red squares are dangerous areas. Blue triangles for drug zones, white stars for weapons. Green shading is the Joker’s previous hideouts, checkerboard pattern is Two Face, brown for Scarecrow, black for Penguin, orange for regular gang stuff…” Tim lost himself as he listed for Superboy every single shape, symbol, color, figure, and line on the map.

“That’s… intense. There’s nothing that even tells you what anything means. How’d you learn all that?”

“I have the key in my head. I have to memorize that whole thing so I know where I can go and where I shouldn’t, and where I may find someone or something if I need it. It was Nightwing’s idea to color it. Batman says I have to have it memorized entirely and then destroy it. It’s not safe to have it lying around, and I’m not allowed to stay out for long by myself if I don’t know it all by heart.”

“I don’t know if that’s awesome or made of suck.”

Shrugging, Tim answered, “It’s important. If I wander unaware into enemy territory, I’m of no use. Now give me that back before someone else sees it. I shouldn’t have even told you about it.”

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Might prove useful to have someone else know the ins and outs of Gotham, especially someone who could fly. “Just don’t let Batman figure out you know.’’

“Got it. Don’t want him to dislike me any more, or have him Bat-ground you or something.”

“Ha-ha.”

Further conversation was cut off by the whirlwind arrival of Impulse, who started chattering about what was going on in Dallas. Grateful for the interruption, Tim snagged back his map and shoved it back in his backpack. He knew the map by heart, but one more look later that night couldn’t hurt.


End file.
